Queen Elizabeth must die or abdicate for Australian republic

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Australia's
head-of-state, must die or abdicate before Australia can become
a republic, said one of the country's leading politicians and
former head of the republican movement.

Malcolm Turnbull, now opposition treasury spokesman, said
Australians would not vote for a republic while the country's
monarch reigned.

The majority of Australians support their country becoming
a republic, but a 1999 vote on a republic failed because
Australians could not agree on the type of republic.

Turnbull said Queen Elizabeth's departure from the throne
would be a "watershed event that would galvanize the
population" into debating what type of head-of-state they
wanted.

"I said at the time of the 1999 referendum that if we voted
'no' it would mean 'no' for a very long time," Turnbull told
local media on Monday.

"My own judgment is that the next time when you would have
your best prospects (of a republic) is at the end of the
Queen's reign -- when she dies or when she abdicates," said
Turnbull, former head of the Australian Republican Movement.

Former conservative prime minister, John Howard, who lost
office last November, was a staunch monarchist.

But new Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and many in his
government, are avowed republicans, but Rudd has dismissed
another vote on the issue anytime soon.
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